ANNE HENDERSHOTT: In Massachusetts old pedophilia rumors haunt Catholic officials - Washington Times

The analogy that caught my attention, 

Boston seems especially vulnerable to the kinds of moral panic that has gripped the archdiocese. Boston became the epicenter of one of the most notorious panics surrounding the Satanic Ritual Abuse day care claims of the 1980s. Boston’s Fells Acres Day Care panic promoted a false narrative that once-loving and nurturing day care workers had mysteriously become demonic monsters who had raped children with knives, slaughtered large animals in magic rooms and underground tunnels — sacrificing babies to Satan — all without leaving a bit of evidence. In that panic, Boston’s Fells Acres Day Care workers spent more than a decade in prison despite the fact that they had done nothing wrong. It was only due to the tireless efforts of The Wall Street Journal’s Dorothy Rabinowitz that the innocent day care workers were released from prison.

What makes it a false one, it is agenda driven.  Anne Hendershott is director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life.  In essence, Hendershott is an apologist for the Catholic Church and to equate pedophile priests, a legitimate well documented issue, with the false narrative of the Satanic Panic is dubious at best.

The “zero-tolerance” policies that remain bereft of common sense at the archdiocesan offices have promoted yet another panic in Boston — one that ensnares innocent men and women in Revere — and puts the church once again at risk. Perhaps it is time to reconsider those policies that end up hurting those they are designed to protect.

ANNE HENDERSHOTT: In Massachusetts old pedophilia rumors haunt Catholic officials - Washington Times